Ver. 5. Also out of the midst thereof,] i.e., From God’s glorious presence. Came the likeness of four living creatures,] i.e., Angels; (Ezekiel 10:8,14,15,20) Intelligentias animales, Cicero calleth them. See like visions, Daniel 7:9 Re 4:6,7. These are said to be four, because God by his angels diffuseth his power through the four quarters of the world. They had the likeness of a man,] sc., For the greater part, they had more of a man than of any other creature, as hands, legs, &c. (Ezekiel 1:7,8) Quest. Acad., lib. iv.

Ver. 6. And every one had four faces.] To set forth, saith an expositor, that the power of angels is exercised about all creatures. It is as if the angels did bear on them the heads of all living creatures— i.e., did comprehend in themselves all the elements and all the parts of the world; not as if they did move or act by their own power, but as they are God’s hands and agents, employed by him at pleasure, for the good of his Church especially, (Hebrews 1:14) as being fit and ready to every good work. So should we strive to be. (Titus 3:1) And every one had four wings.] To set forth their agility, their incredible swiftness, far beyond that of the sun, which yet, if Bellarmine reckoneth right, runneth, in the eighth part of an hour, seven thousand miles; others say many more. De Ascens. ment. in Deum, grad. 7.

Ver. 7. And their feet were straight feet.] Importing their right progress in executing God’s will. We must also “make straight or even paths for our feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way.” (Hebrews 12:13) See Ezekiel 1:9. And the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot] Round, and therefore easily turned. Hoc ad agilitatem et varietatem cursus spectat. The angels, because they see every way, so they are apt to go every way, and this with the greatest facility that can be. And they sparkled.] So swiftly they went, that their feet seemed to sparkle or strike fire. Like the colour of burnished brass.] Burnished, not blemished; polished, not polluted.

Ver. 8. And they had the hands of a man under their wings.] Faces, wings, hands, all to express, saith one, the sufficiency of God’s providence for all means of help. A little of the angels, saith another, is set forth by these faces, wings, hands, feet, but the distinct knowledge of angels, as angels, is reserved till we are like the angels in heaven. Great angels they are, but act invisibly for the most part; their hands are under their wings.

Ver. 9. Their wings were joined one to another.] To show the unity of angels, the uniformity also of their motions in God’s service; there is a suitability and agreeability between them. They turned not when they went,] sc., Till they had effected that which they went for; and then they did. [as Ezekiel 1:14] They went every one straight forward.] The angels, in the execution of their office, kept a straight course, without deviating or detracting, without cessation or cespitation. Our eyes should also “look right on,” (Proverbs 4:25) and we should make “straight steps for our feet.” (Hebrews 12:13) This is angel-like. St Paul, that earthly angel, did so. (Philippians 3:13,14)

Ver. 10. They four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion.] Hereby is set forth the wisdom, strength, serviceability, and perspicaciousness of the holy angels for the Church’s good, all things requisite to great undertakings; neither forbear they to serve us, though we have the scent of the earth and hell about, us. Quantumnis eos, proh dolor, foetore peccatorum non raro laedamus, Deumque offendamus, Though, by the stench of our sins, we do frequently annoy them, and offend God. And they four had the face of an ox.] Angels are obsequious, painful, patient, useful. The ox is of those beasts that are ad esum et ad usum; to consume food and to be useful, and is truly called Iumentum a iuvando, the beast of burden from help. They four also had the face of an eagle.] Angels are sharp sighted, (2 Samuel 14:20) vigorous and vivacious, swift beyond belief, (Daniel 9:21) and if they be once upon the wing, there is no escaping for any wicked people or person. Polan. —Would any great prince attend a lowly man full of sores and vermin?

Ver. 11. And their wings were stretched upward.] Faces and wings are both turned toward God, at whose beck and obedience the holy angels wholly are; (Psalms 103:20) or hereby may be imported the swiftness, sublimeness, and equality of their service. Two wings of every one.] See on Ezekiel 1:9. And two covered their bodies.] See on Isaiah 6:2.

Ver. 12. And they went every one straight forward.] See on Ezekiel 1:9. Whither the Spirit was to go, they went.] That is, the Spirit of God, by whose direction and conduct the angels do all things; he is the great agent that setteth angels to work. Let us also be “led by the Spirit of God,” so shall we approve ourselves “sons of God.” (Romans 8:14)

Ver. 13. Their appearance was like burning coals of fire.] Angels are actuosi et efficaces ut ignis, of a fiery nature, and of a fiery operation, as is also the Holy Spirit, (Isaiah 4:4 Matthew 3:11 Acts 2:3) whereby they are actuated. Angels are all on a light fire, as it were, with zeal for God and indignation against sin; let us be similarly affected. Paul was a heavenly spark; John Baptist, “a burning and shining light.” Chrysostom saith that Peter was a man made all of fire, walking among stubble; Basil was a pillar of fire; Latimer cried out, Deest ignis. In Bucholcere vivida omnia fuerunt, &c. It went up and down among the living creatures.] The fire and flame did. Heb., It made itself to walk of its own accord and pleasure. And the fire was bright.] Let us also labour to kindle and keep quick the fire of zeal upon the hearth of our hearts, without all smoke or smudge of sin. And out of the fire went out lightnings.] “The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth”; his noble works done by those instruments of his, the holy angels, are quickly noted and noticed, as in Sennacherib’s army. Melch. Adam.

Ver. 14. And the living creatures ran and returned.] As soon as ever their work was done, they came back to him who sent them out to know his further pleasure, and to do him more service. When the angel had lessoned the good women about our Saviour’s resurrection, he biddeth them “go quickly and tell his disciples,” &c., and then dismisseth them, with “Lo, I have told you,” (Matthew 28:6,7) q.d., Begone now about your business, you have your full errand; why linger ye? pack away. As the appearance of a flash of lightning.] Which appeareth aud disappeareth in an instant.

Ver. 15. Behold one wheel upon the earth.] Things here below are exceedingly mutable, and therefore compared to wheels, because they may seem to run on wheels, and to have no certain course, but to be turned upside down eftsoons; such is the various, promiscuous administration of them, to many men’s thinking. To set us right herein, here we have the vision of the four wheels; for each of the four living wights had a wheel by him, (Ezekiel 1:16 10:9) to show that God governeth all the four quarters of the world by the ministry of his angels. This the poets hammered at, but hit not on, in their foolish fable of Fortune’s wheel. St James speaketh of the wheel (τροχος) of nature; (James 3:6) and, indeed, this world is of a wheeling nature, movable and mutable. But God, who moves this wheel, who ruleth the world, is unchangeable and eternal, (James 1:17) and his providence and the ministry of his angels sets all the wheels in the world in motion.

Ver. 16. The appearance of the wheels…was like unto the colour of a beryl.] Heb., As the eye or colour of Tarshish— i.e., the sea, or beryl, which is of a sea colour, even sea-green; whereby is represented the flux and fluctuating constitution of things here below. And they four had one likeness.] There is the same instability of things in one place as in another, and the same overruling providence. Their appearance and their work were as it were a wheel in the midst of a wheel.] God hath a wheel, providence, in all the wheeling businesses of the world. These are so one within another, as that all their motion dependeth on the angels, whom he also moderateth and ordereth at his own pleasure. Whensoever, therefore, we see such things come to pass that we can see no reason for—as the Churches overthrown, the wicked exalted, &c.—consider that one wheel is within another, and the wings of the angels are one within another. Dr Preston.

Ver. 17. When they went, they went upon their four sides.] Or, According to their four sides— i.e., through the four parts of the world, as they were moved by the four living creatures. And they returned not when they went.] But kept on straight forward, without stopping or stepping back. A figure of the constant and consonant harmony which is in all the works of God’s providence toward the world, but especially toward his Church. Diod.

Ver. 18. As for their rings they were so high.] Apsides earum tam amplae seu altae ut propterea formidabiles. The rings or strokes, Heb., backs, of these wheels were so broad and high that they struck terror into the beholders. It is hard to take the altitude of second causes. Well might one write a book of the vanity of sciences, and another a tractate Quod nihil scitur. I would see the proudest of you all define the nature of a straw, as one preached in Cambridge to all the scholars; so of a flower, of a fly, &c. Well might David say, “Thy judgments, Lord, are a great deep,” (Psalms 36:6) such as hath neither bank nor bottom. Well might Paul cry out, “Oh the depth! how unsearchable are his ways.” (Romans 11:23) And the rings were full of eyes.] Instead of cart nails. Understand hereby God’s all-seeing providence, which never erreth, but always ordereth the world’s disorders to his own glory. Round about them four.] The Divine providence is like a well drawn picture, which eyeth all that are in the room. See 2 Chronicles 16:9 Ps 34:15 Zec 4:10 Job 34:21 36:7 Jer 16:17 32:17.

Ver. 19. And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them.] The angels are God’s hands, as it were, whereby are acted and agitated this lower world and the second causes therein. The wheels were lift up.] The spirits of the creatures were heightened and elevated to some unwonted and more than ordinary service, by some special instinct. We use to say, Magnarum rerum tarda molimina; When there are many wheels, some will be always out. But it is otherwise here; and that of Ambrose is verified, Nescit tarda molimina Spiritus Sancti gratia; God can soon effect great things by his powerful grace.

Ver. 20. Whithersoever the spirit was to go.] See Ezekiel 1:12; and take notice that whatever the instrument is, or means of this or that occurrence, God is the main agent. It is Christ who by his Spirit, Spiritus vitalis, worketh all in all in his Church. (1 Corinthians 12:16 Ephesians 1:11 Colossians 3:21) There falleth not a hair from a man’s head, nay, not a bristle from a sow’s back, saith Tertullian, without God. For the spirit of the living creatures.] Or, Of life. The Divine inspiration was the procreant cause of the wheels’ motion. This is here called haruach, that spirit by an excellence: est Deus in nobis. The spirit is in the wheels, as an invisible but irresistible agent. “The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord, he turneth it whithersoever he will.” (Proverbs 21:1)

Ver. 21. When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood.] This is but the same again as before, but more fully and plainly. See the similar passage in John 1:2.

Ver. 22. And the likeness of the firmament.] The glory of God in Christ is revealed to the prophet in this ensuing vision, even that great “mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh,” (1 Timothy 3:16) whereof this was a kind of prelude. To like purpose also was that vision. (Isaiah 6:1 John 12:39-41) Upon the heads of the living creature.] Between them and the Lord Christ as a screen, and supplied likely the office of that other pair of wings. (Isaiah 6:2 Exodus 24:10) Was as the colour of the terrible crystal.] Heb., Of the formidable frost, that is, of the most vehement frost, a periphrasis of crystal. All things above are dreadfully glorious, as all things below are pellucid, pervious, and clear to God’s eye, like a diaphanous body. (Hebrews 4:13) Mountains of brass are as transparent to him as the clearest crystal. The firmament is so clear that Christ seeth through it. It is “a molten looking glass”; (Job 37:18) and those atheists are utterly out who ask, “How doth God know? can he judge through the dark clouds” (Job 22:13) Vide Plin., lib. xxxvii, cap. 2. Chrysiallus est gelu concretum.

Ver. 23. Were their wings straight,] sc., When they flew; for at other times they covered their bodies with them, (Ezekiel 1:11) in reverence to Christ their Creator and Lord. The one toward the other.] They serve the Lord Christ with one shoulder or consent; they do all mind the same thing.

Ver. 24. And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings.] A very great noise, as is here set forth by a threefold similitude— Congeries similium faciens ad amplificationem. Like the noise of great waters.] Which fall with a horrible fragor, as with the catadupes, for instance. See Psalms 46:3. As the noise of the Almighty,] i.e., As thunder. (Psalms 29:4 18:13) The voice of speech.] When a man crieth aloud, lifteth up his voice like a trumpet, sic clamans ut stentora vincat. As the noise of an host] Barritus ille milltarls, besides the roaring of cannons, rattling of wheels, beating of drums, &c. This none hear but the spiritual man, who “discerneth all things,” (1 Corinthians 2:15) and hath his senses habitually exercised to discern good and evil. (Hebrews 5:14) They let down their wings.] As expecting a new commission.

Ver. 25. And there was a voice from the firmament,] i.e., From above the firmament, even from Christ on the throne. When they stood.] When all was hushed. So Revelation 8:1, there was half-an-hour’s silence in heaven, that is, in the Church on earth, when the seventh seal was opened. Sedate and silent spirits are fittest to hear Christ’s voice. (Job 4:16)

Ver. 26. And above the firmament.] See on Ezekiel 1:22. Was the likeness of a throne.] Far beyond that of Solomon. (1 Kings 10:18,19) That was of ivory, but this of sapphire; that had a rich canopy over it, but this the azured sky under it; [see Exodus 24:10] all to set forth Christ’s kingly dignity and surpassing majesty. And upon the likeness.] All was but likeness and appearance, because all was visional here. As the appearance of a man.] This was the man Christ Jesus, and this is the last and best part of the vision—viz., Christ set by his Father in super celestial places, far above all principality and power, &c. (Ephesians 1:20,21) One of Augustine’s wishes was to have seen Christ on earth. Bede comes after, and wisheth rather to have seen Christ in his glory, and on his heavenly throne.

Ver. 27. And I saw as the colour of amber.] See Ezekiel 1:4. Heb., Chashmal, which being read backward, as the Cabbalists observe, is Lammashach, or Lammashiach -i.e., Messiah. As the appearance of fire.] Christ is very terrible in his executions; and even “our God” (as well as the Jews’ God) “is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:29 Exodus 13:21) From the appearance of his loins even upward.] This may well be understood of Christ’s divinity, as the parts downward of his humanity, partaking of the same most resplendent glory, by virtue of the hypostatical union, and having partner agency with the Godhead, according to its measure, in the works of redemption and mediation.

Ver. 28. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud.] Here, as in the salt sea, or as in a pot of honey, the deeper the sweeter. The rainbow was set for a sign of the covenant of mercy to mankind (Genesis 9:12 Isaiah 54:12 Revelation 10:1) [See Trapp on “Re 10:1”] This was the appearance, &c.] For no more of God can be seen by any mortal creature. (Exodus 33:20) This and other prophets saw the chariot, but not the rider in it, as the Rabbis say. I fell upon my face.] As astonished, and as adoring the divine Majesty. And I heard a voice.] This the Vulgate prefixeth before the next chapter. Quasi facies suos submittens.

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